You Will Find Your Courage
by FrodoFever
Summary: ONE SHOT Pippin contemplates on what his purpose is during the War of the Ring. Believing he was only a piece of luggage along for the ride, Pippin finally comes to terms with himself. Please R&R, thank you!


Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story. If I did, I would be a billionaire right now.  
  
"Courage is doing what you're afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared." -Eddie Rickenbacker  
  
Pippin stared lifelessly into the distance as the Uruk Hai ran endlessly through the wilderness. Just as he figured, he was caught. He knew he would someday, somehow no matter how much he tried to avoid trouble.  
  
'I'm nothing but a piece of garbage,' Pippin thought. 'I knew I shouldn't have come on this journey, but dumb old me insisted that I wanted to go.'  
  
All during his life in the Shire, Pippin had it made. He never gave a thought to the outside world. Who didn't in the Shire? But he, Peregrin Took, should've paid attention more to the outside world. Then maybe he would've realized that at any given point in time, something bad could happen and change his life forever. You never knew when something could come in and sweep you up and never take a second thought. Like the Uruk Hai did to him and Merry. Stupid them for trying to be brave, they shouldn't have acted like they were something else.  
  
Pippin glanced over to Merry. He was still unconscious. He wished he could do something for his friend, but unfortunately, Pippin was tied up and couldn't move and if he did, the Uruk carrying him would give a sharp with his very sharp fingers. It wasn't too pleasant.  
  
Finally, the Uruk Hai stopped for the night. The one carrying Pippin dropped him none to nicely on the ground, out of the way of everybody else. Like a piece of luggage, as Pippin noticed. He could probably expect that from the ugly brutes from Mordor, but he'd also noticed it when he was with the rest of the Fellowship.  
  
No matter how hard he tried to not get in trouble, more times in not that was the case. Like that one point in Moria when Pippin accidentally made a skeleton fall down a well. That wasn't too smart and Gandalf had given him a sharp insult. "Fool of a Took!" he had said. "Throw yourself in next time and rid us of your stupidity." Pippin had felt bad about that ever since, especially after Gandalf died to save the rest of them. He had never gotten the chance to say he was sorry and now it was too late. Pippin now knew what it meant when people said to not take anything for granted and say what you needed to say because you never know what might happen.  
  
Pippin crawled over to Merry to see if he was all right.  
  
"Merry! Merry..." Pippin whispered as he crawled over to his friend.  
  
Merry opened his eyes and looked at him. Pippin gave him a smile. What more could he do for his friend? Not being tied up and unable to take care of Merry's wound.  
  
"I think...we made a mistake leaving the Shire, Pip," Merry said in a low voice. Then he fell back onto the ground and fell asleep. Pippin knew this because his breathing was even and not the harsh, gasping sound when he was unconscious.  
  
Pippin rolled over onto his back and looked up at the sky and the stars. Why did the stars have to be so bright and beautiful when everything was so horrible and terrible down on Middle Earth? Pippin decided that Merry was right; they had in fact made a mistake of leaving the Shire. They would've been more useful staying in the Shire, or even at Rivendell.  
  
But what would he have been doing if Pippin had stayed behind? Having fun dancing at parties and inns while his friends starved and struggled each day to survive? Pippin didn't think he would've done it even in the condition he was in right now. He was here tied up and trapped while the others were probably out there, starving and struggling to survive while they get closer and closer to Mordor and to their doom. Maybe that's why they had called Mount Doom...well, Mount Doom. If you did manage to get there, you would find your doom there.  
  
"Do not fear, young Peregrin Took. You will find your courage."  
  
Pippin was startled as those words echoed in his mind. The lady Galadriel had said that to him before the Fellowship had left. Before the Fellowship had been broken into parts and left for their own struggles. And all Pippin's struggles was being tied up and being taken to Sauron or Saruman. He didn't know which one was worse.  
  
And Galadriel said that he'd find his courage. In what? Being brave when he got killed? There wasn't any courage in that. Just the last look of fear before dying, that's what.  
  
"Hey, ho, to the bottle I go, to heal my heart and drown my woe..." Pippin sang under his breath.  
  
Merry woke up and looked over at Pippin. "What are you singing?"  
  
"Remember when we were in the Green Dragon after Bilbo's party and we were singing our drinking song? That's what I'm singing...to try and keep my spirits up," Pippin answered.  
  
"That feels so long ago, when we were young and carefree and stupid..." Merry said.  
  
"But it DID happen...rain may fall and wind may blow, but there still be many miles to go..." Pippin continued to sing...  
  
"Sweet to the sound of the pouring rain and the stream that falls from hill to plain. But better than rain or a rippling brook..." Merry continued under his breath.  
  
"Is a mug of beer inside this Took," Pippin finished.  
  
Merry smiled softly. "Those were the days. What I wouldn't give for a good mug of beer right now. It would take my troubles away and warm me up."  
  
Pippin nodded. "Keep on thinking about that mug of beer, Merry. It'll keep you going. And maybe you'll get it."  
  
"What's keeping you going, Pip?" Merry asked.  
  
Pippin fell silent for several minutes. What WAS keeping him going? He didn't really know...just that the thought that he might see Frodo and the others again someday. That he would see the Shire again. But those weren't just it that kept him going.  
  
"I guess a lot of things are, Merry. I keep going because I think we might see everybody again and see the Shire again...but those don't sum everything up," Pippin stated.  
  
"Then what is? I should think that would be enough to keep you going," Merry said.  
  
"Lady Galadriel had told me something before we left Lothlorien that one day a long time ago. She had said to me 'Do not fear young Peregrin Took. You will find your courage.' I keep clinging onto those words because...there's nothing else for me to keep clinging onto. I don't know why or how I'll find my courage. I feel like a piece of luggage, or a piece of trash, that has no use. What part do I have in this whole thing? I feel like it's nothing, except I'm along for the ride. But Lady Galadriel said that I will find my courage and I'll have some part to play yet...for whatever end," Pippin said.  
  
Merry stared at Pippin for several moments. "You keep going on that, Pippin. Keep clinging to you. You still have a purpose. You will find your courage, as Galadriel says."  
  
Pippin nodded and Merry fell back into sleep again. Maybe they were all right. He would find his courage. But that would be hard to find. But Pippin knew he had a part to play yet. He had to keep going. He just had to wait for it to show itself and had to be patient until it came. Pippin knew he wasn't a piece of trash or a piece of luggage along for the ride. He wasn't put into the Fellowship for nothing.  
  
Do not fear. You will find your courage. Pippin hoped he would do just that.  
  
You will find your courage...  
  
Author's Note: Not many people write stories about Pippin. Fewer still write a serious story about him, one full of angst. I hope I did justice to him because Pippin is one of the characters from the book that I most admire and wish that there was more of. As a great quote says, if you can't find what you like to read, go and write it yourself. That's all I've got to say about that. Hope you've all enjoyed and I hope you all review. 


End file.
